I’m sure when a company succeeds most of us are more than eager to know their success mantras. But the winners are no fools! Why will they tell you their success formula? In a world of cut throat competition they’ll definitely want to stay on top. Their ‘mean’ minds will also want them to secretly desire that they are the sole survivors in their market and all their contemporaries perish. Such is this world my friend! But then all are not like that. Automotive industry financial services biggie, GSFS Group’s Director of Training and Consulting, Bart Carpenter, who’s going to be one of the leading moderators of the F& I Conference Industry Roundtable titled “Achieving High Performance in Your Finance Industry”, shares some gems of high performance that any company can follow [...]

India is a fascinating country with the highest diversity in ethnicity, religious views, lifestyles and economic class. India can be called the spice of the world. America on the other hand is the superpower that is reining the world largely in economical, political areas. Since the recent recession that has badly hit the United States, the world is looking towards Asia as the upcoming greener pastures.   Today the US has some of the best Indian brains serving for it. Indian Nobel laureate Dr. Amartya Sen, an economist and Professor of Economics at Harvard University is one of them. Mint Blog has chosen to compare   the two on a huge range of dimensions that can be broadly classified into the economic, people, environment, military, and offbeat categories. Here I shall discuss the economic [...]

We love our pets very much and want to give them the best we can. But maintaining pets and that too with a civilized lifestyle can be a challenge for many. The other day I, when browsing the internet, came across an online pet care store. I was baffled by the range of pet care products. Pet shampoos, conditioners, soaps, garments, jewelry, furniture … Personally, maintaining my lifestyle as a human being does not necessitate the usage of so many products. I was even more surprised to find pet spas, beauty parlors, and grooming centers. All these are very expensive. In days gone by we would just buy pet food but now our civilized pets seem to want more than simply good food. Apart from these items of luxury, essential pet care has become quite expensive and this is an expenditure that you [...]

Regardless of their culture, nationality, ethnic origin etc. women have traditionally been homemakers and men the money-earners of the family. Other than the knowledge of some basic money saving techniques while running the household, women were not really savvy of the complex financial world around them. But now, with the changing socio- cultural scenario of women having to take up the role of bread-winners of the family and divorces being at an all-time high, a woman needs to set up herself as an independent financial entity and for that she needs to equip herself with more financial knowledge than mere domestic budgeting skills. According to Ginita Wall, co-author of ‘It's More Than Your Money - It's Your Life!’, "A lot of women believe that wealth is a four-letter word. They are particularly [...]

You might be already aware of scores of ways in which you should budget your spending. You might have gone to financial experts visited money management websites or taken courses on financial literacy etc. But did anybody give you a step by step direction on what you should do and what you shouldn’t to manage your money efficiently? Most often, unless you personally took the trouble for acquiring in-depth knowledge, you are given broad and generalized outlines. These don’t necessarily relate to your unique life situation. Moreover, you are not very precise about your plans. This is the reason for many of us there is a slip between the sip and the cup. Here’s some advice with a difference. You are not asked to do this and do that for controlling your expenses. More than the implementation [...]

Credit cards are a part and parcel of our lives now. Using credit cards has become second nature for me. Paying up my dues in time was something that I learnt as a child and I maintained that habit even with credit cards. So there were no hassles for me. The operations were smooth and I really had no problems with their rules. I understand there are many like me, but some have problems with the billing period, interest rate notifications, finance charges adjustments, late payment adjustments etc. The Obama government has brought in changes in the way credit card companies operate with their consumers through the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act 2009. Though the changes are welcome to a certain extent, there are some pros and cons that need to be considered before [...]

Raising a big loan is a major issue and there are different ways in which you can do it. You might want to bank on your credit card company or take bank loans, but you know very well the complications that you might risk getting into with these options. Your credit card company will ask you to satisfy a number of clauses whereas banks will have endless evaluations which might delay the delivery of money when you need it the most. If you remember before the credit card concept came into the market, we used to simply call up a lender and would get money in a single step by mortgaging an asset. Otherwise you wouldn’t have had to mortgage. You’d simply show some asset for credibility on which you could loan money. This was a simple transaction and was by far the fastest and most convenient. [...]

The after effects of the recession epidemic are showing up one by one now. You might have rejoiced over the news that the recession was fading but the Labor Statistics Report saying that unemployment has hit an all time high within the last six years this August is sure to dampen your soaring spirits. To add to that the unemployment perks have become chargeable now. Here’s a CNN report on that. Now, instead of issuing unemployment checks, many states are issuing prepaid debit cards to the unemployed. They want to save up on the printing and shipping costs involved with the unemployment checks. If you are unemployed you will be issued a prepaid debit card which you can use for availing your unemployment. The Labor Department reports that this is being adopted by 31 states. These cards may [...]

When was it last that you laughed to your heart’s content? Was it five months, two months, or two weeks? Though the fading recession seems to be giving us good reasons to laugh again, the past phase has made us almost psychotic with depression.  Stressful economy can depress you very much. Many of my friends have put on weight and if you go by the American Psychological Association poll you might find it hard to believe but 80 % of the people have suffered depression or failed mental health. Failed mental health as you know leads to a lot of physical complaints also. I second clinical Psychologist, Deborah Serani’s opinion on this. According to this New York mental health practitioner “When our financial bedrock is shaken, not only do the numbers dwindle lower, but so, too, does our [...]

I really don’t know if it’s the recession or the general services of financial companies, but it seems that in the recent times the complaints against the companies has gone up multi-fold. According to Financial Services Authority reports that showed the trends from 2006-2008, poor customer service and exorbitant fees of finance companies seem to be the main areas against which customers are grousing about. The lending sectors of the financial industry, the banks and the lending agencies seem to be the ones facing the brunt of the customer’s ire. The rise in complaints against these sectors is a shocking 122 % in the last three years. The high charge complaints have increased by 259 %   and customer service complaints have risen by 71 % in the same period. Other complaints include credit [...]

When I was in my fifth grade I learnt about the human circulatory system that involved a fascinating study of how blood was generated, the different parts of the human body that it flowed through and where it went back to. Years later, now when I’m a part of this economy drama, I can’t help but remember the human circulatory system once more. Today, when I see the dynamic changes in the stature of money when it comes to the economy of a country or a household, I feel money is like your blood. It gets generated at one place, flows through the entire financial system and then gets replaced by new money everyday, just like our blood cells. When we have suffered ‘economic anemia’ for so long and are on our way to recovery now, it makes sense for us to know the dynamics of money so that [...]

Next time you bite into an ice-cream and simply scream “ Aaaaaah my tooth hurts !” but feel that you’ve got to pop in some pills instead of going to a dentist as a temporary  remedy because you can’t afford the fee, just relax…there’s good news for you. It seems this recession has tamed the dentists’ desire of charging exorbitant prices for their services, because many people have put dental care out of their budgets as it appeared optional to them. I don’t agree with them though because when  you get a devastating toothache you’ll know that dental care is the most essential thing for your survival. However, those people who were blessed enough to not have a rendezvous with a toothache have decided not to go to dentists and now this is the reason many dentists are offering [...]